A friend of mine recently directed me to a poem on Slate called "The Rooster King" by Jay Hopler. I love the modern, masculine swagger of the words and the strange juxtaposition of Hopler's classical poetic approach. When is the last time you saw the word "lo" in a contemporary poem?
This poem reminds me of my husband--and not just because he loves roosters. The gritty, almost percussive word choice is given the royal treatment, taking on a religious tone, transforming this combative animal into something venerable.
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If you haven't seen the article on Huffington Post, "The 15 Most Overrated Contemporary American Writers," I recommend taking a look. I was shocked to find that five of the fifteen are poets.
Sure I'm a little bothered that Sharon Olds made the list because this guy thinks she's too obsessed with her children's genitals (she's a great poet who writes about more than that!), but my primary emotion was excitement. Inside my head I was jumping around screaming, "People are reading poetry! People are talking about poets on a mainstream news website! People are thinking about poetry!" And then I breathed a small sigh.
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